1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to mechanisms for routing and supporting fiber optic jumpers.
2. Background Art
Fiber optic jumpers connect into and out from network equipment in order to communicate optical signals to and from the network equipment. Network equipment includes components arranged within a bay or a lineup of bays. A set of network equipment bays are usually arranged side-by-side in a relay rack. The relay rack is mounted to a stationary structure such as a ladder rack on a given level. Other sets of network equipment bays are arranged in other relay racks which are mounted to the ladder rack on different levels.
A fiber optic jumper trough (i.e., “raceway”) is placed above or below the ladder rack. Fiber optic jumpers extend between the raceway and the network equipment. For example, a first group of fiber optic jumpers extends between the raceway and the bays of the first relay rack, a second group of fiber optic jumpers extends between the raceway and the bays of the second relay rack, etc. Sub-sets of fiber optic jumpers extend from each group to an associated bay within a relay rack. For instance, a first sub-set of the first group of fiber optic jumpers extends to the first bay in the first relay rack, a second sub-set of the first group of fiber optic jumpers extends to the second bay in the first relay rack, etc.
Typically, there are a great many fiber optic jumpers for connection from the raceway to a great many network equipment components arranged on the ladder rack. As can be appreciated, the fiber optic jumpers form a congested mess. That is, the configuration of the fiber optic jumpers between the raceway and the network equipment arranged on the ladder rack is likely to be appear as congested, confusing, and irrational to an operator. Further, the portions of the fiber optic jumpers extending between the raceway and the network equipment components on the ladder rack are exposed to the environment and to accidental contact by casual human operators.